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In the 1975 European Referendum the pro-European side started the campaign at a two to one disadvantage in public opinion. Britain had only been a member for two years. Harold Wilson was determined to avoid a split in the Labour Party and was a tactition of proven experience. There was a very real possibility that… » read more

Some neologisms are helpful if they pin down meaning that needs tighter definition. Some are just sneaky. I have always disliked Brexit it gives a simple word to the previously unthinkable act of withdrawal from the EU. It sounds perfectly normal as in a fire exit or a motorway exit. However it has come to… » read more

For various complicated reasons, I now have a flat in Vauxhall. I remember the area around Fentiman Road from thirty years ago as containing a spattering of MPs. Returning now I discover it to be newly fashionable with the development of Nine Elms, the arrival of the US Embassy and the final development of Battersea… » read more

My wife’s family always kept a picture of the Emperor Napoleon on their downstairs loo. This was a practice which I do not follow, feeling it to be vaguely anti-European. In fact I should have recognised it as a tribute to the closeness in personal time of the Battle of Waterloo. Liz’s father had married… » read more

One can see why Conservative Euro-sceptics might be reluctant to let Nigel Farage lead the Out campaign. The man is not sound. He is not properly house-trained. He is capable of ill-advised jumps in policy designed to attract the attention that UKIP needed to maintain its upward direction. However despite his time in the… » read more

Maria, who died in November, was a radical Greek aristocrat. As a child during the war she was permanently marked by her experiences in German-occupied Greece. She opposed the Greek Junta passionately. She went to the extent of talking to the PLO in the shape of the “Jackal” about providing military training for young Greeks… » read more

“If Winter comes can Spring be far behind?” With apologies to Shelley’s Ode to the West Wind, I am increasingly struck by the parallels between Public Affairs, the British housing market and the state of European integration! The prolonged recession and the growing sense that there is likely to be no immediate relief, eventually forces… » read more

A senior European figure, commenting on David Cameron’s demeanour during European Councils, is reported to have said “He is just not interested”. Margaret Thatcher, John Major & Tony Blair, whatever the other distractions of their premierships, were keen followers of the European debate. Only Gordon Brown, in the terminal stages of his decay, can be… » read more

In May of 2011 Wilfried Martens, President of the European Peoples Party and the Centre for European Studies, opened a CES Conference in London. He was asked about the future for European integration. He quoted George Herbert to the effect that “Storms make oaks take deeper roots”. I admired the elegance of the response, but… » read more

As the reality of ‘seven lean years’ sinks into the consciousness of the peoples of Europe, resignation and reality is crystallising in the minds of the peoples of Europe. Such a mood amongst the electorates of Europe is the essential precondition for any political or economic settlement of Europe’s current woes. The mood is not… » read more

I believe that ideas are the fuel of political debate. They bubble up endlessly and they should be shared, even in their unrefined and imperfect form. This blog is my attempt to share some of the ideas which interest me n Europe, public affairs and other